1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to water treatment apparatus. More particularly, this invention relates to a portable water treatment apparatus for use in the transport of drinking water and aqua culture product transport.
2. Background
Recently, the bottled water market has experienced a surge in sales. This may be due to both a more limited availability of potable water and a desire among consumers to drink water which has not been treated with chemicals such as chlorine and fluoride. Besides the bottled water market, it is also often necessary to deliver potable water to a remote location when it is not otherwise available. Regardless of the reasons, the transport of fresh water from its source to a bottling plant or storage facility is necessary.
In addition to the transport need, regulatory agencies require that fresh water be treated to remove organic contaminants. To date, this has required a water treatment plant to be installed either at the water source or at the bottling plant, usually at the bottling plant because of cost concerns. The water treatment plants have traditionally used sanitation processes such as chemical treatments and ultraviolet irradiation to sanitize the water. More recently, ozonation of water has been implemented in treatment plants which results in the complete sterilization of the water leaving only residual ozone, carbon and non-organics in the water as opposed to sanitation which reduces microbial activity down to trace levels. Bottlers and packagers of water regularly require sanitation of the tanker trucks to reduce contamination build-up and cross-contamination risks, realizing that sterilization has heretofore been impracticable.
One of the most effective methods for treatment of water involves the controlled mixing of ozone into the water. An excellent explanation of this treatment process appears in the November 1988 issue of UltraPure Water.RTM. entitled Microbial Control-Ozone, The Process Water Sterilant. Several United States patents deal with treating water with ozone. Examples of these patents include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,959,142, 4,963,269 and 4,906,358. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,142 discloses a water treating apparatus having a circulating type water pipe for removing the water from the tank, treating the water with ozone, filtering the water, and he treating the water with ultraviolet radiation and subsequently returning the water to the tank.
At least one attempt has been made to install a portable ozonator on a water tanker to treat the water while the water is in transit, however, this attempt was unsuccessful. The problem stems from the limited availability of power and resources on a vehicle. FIG. 1 labeled PRIOR ART illustrates the apparatus of the prior attempt. The prior attempt used bottled oxygen O2 in combination with a portable generator G powered ozone generator O3 bubbled trough a baffle tube T in the tank to treat the water in transit. It was found that the system was incapable of generating any residual ozone within the treated water as is required by the bottler, which meant that the water had to be re-treated at the plant. Prior to the present invention, it was thought to be impracticable, if not impossible, to provide in transit ozonation of water as the relatively short transit times required too much power to support the high rate of ozonation required to treat the quantity of water within the limited amount of time.
When transporting aqua culture livestock it is necessary to oxygenate the water in the tanker in order to insure the viability of livestock. Additionally, after transporting a load of aqua culture livestock, it is necessary to sanitize the tanker to prevent cross contamination should a load of livestock contained diseased stock or an element which may be incompatible with a different load of livestock. Heretofore, this has required the truck operator to chemically treat the tank between loads by adding chemical agents to relatively clean water introduced into the tank after the load of livestock has been unloaded. Unfortunately, this only results in the tank being sanitized and not sterilized.
What is needed is a water tanker which is capable of treating water for drinking purposes during transit to eliminate the need for pre-treatment or post treatment. Additionally what is needed is a water tanker capable of aqua culture livestock transport which can oxygenate the water in the tanker during transport and sterilize the tank after the livestock has been unloaded.